Members of the European Parliament’s committee on the environment (ENVI), which met in Brussels on Thursday 11 January, warmly received the European Commission’s proposal to strengthen the EU civil protection mechanism by creating “REscEU” (see EUROPE 11911).
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides, who was invited by the parliamentary committee for the first time, attended the meeting to present to MEPs the arrangements foreseen for this European reserve of means or “safety net” of EU scale, which aims to assist member states only when national civil protection capacity does not suffice in the event of a natural disaster. It is not intended to be a substitute for the primary responsibility of EU28 member states.
Stylianides stressed this fact when addressing MEPs, as he had previously done during his tour of the capitals which, as he explained, was to “clear up misunderstandings” (see EUROPE 11933).
The Commissioner said: “Our priority is to strengthen the EU civil protection mechanism to prevent, prepare for and respond to disasters in order to save lives and protect the environment. We must not forget climate change. More and more floods, droughts and forest fires happen all at the same time in different countries, and are increasingly serious. The health and safety of our citizens are at stake”.
Such natural disasters have an impact on forestry, fishing and agriculture, the environment, biodiversity and cultural heritage, with an economic cost estimated at €10 billion for the year 2016 alone, he recalled, saying that “implementation of the Paris Agreement” is essential.
The chairperson of the parliamentary committee, Adina-Ioana Valean (EPP, Romania), gave the commissioner her assurance that MEPs were resolved to move forward on the “REscEU” proposal and to be ready by the summer.
During the debate, Stylianides told Elisabeth Gardini (EPP, Italy), who is rapporteur on this issue, that mobile field hospitals will make it possible to step up the effectiveness of the EU Medical Corps. “We have experience and, thanks to coordination, we can be more effective in deploying mobile field hospitals in the event of epidemics or terrorist attack”, he said.
In response to Peter Liese (EPP, Germany), who asked “why some countries like Russia or other third countries are more rapid than we are in deploying resources” for civil protection, the commissioner explained that, in 2017, only ten requests for assistance out of 17 had been met and that aid had sometimes arrived too late, as in October in Portugal, as there was a red alert in all countries that should have been able to send Canadairs. He said “even countries that always show solidarity were not able to provide aid”, which is why the EU must improve its collective response, he said.
Answering those who quizzed him about the means for helping vulnerable southern countries to meet disaster-related costs, the Commissioner pointed out that “structural funds are an essential support for risk management and reduction” and that it is “better to prevent than to cure”.
Several MEPs from insular countries, such as Miriam Dalli (S&D, Malta) and Giorgos Grammatikakis (S&D, Greece) stressed that insularity should be taken into account in the criteria for being eligible for solidarity funds. This comes under EU regional policy, under the leadership of Corina Cretu. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)